Cats and dogs both lap up liquids with their tongues, but new research describes in detail why dogs are inherently sloppier drinkers.
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The findings also help to explain why large, hefty dogs produce more backsplash mess than tinier ones. This and more related info was discussed today during the presentation "How dogs drink water," made at the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics Meeting held in San Francisco.
PHOTOS: The Earliest Dogs
If the topic seems familiar, it's because the research team has been analyzing pet drinking habits for a while.
"Three years ago, we studied how cats drink," Sunny Jung, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech, said ...

WASHINGTON - A mild manner and a fondness for fatty treats like fish or meat scraps may have helped cats evolve into the tame yet independent-minded pets they are today, researchers said Monday.
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After that, it was people's preference for cats with certain appearances, like white paws, that played a key role in winnowing down the 38 species known today, said a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Using advanced genome sequencing technology, we were able to shed light on the genetic signatures of cats' unique biology and survival skills," said Wes Warren, associate professor of genetics at the Washington University School of Medicine.
Domest...

PARIS - Brazenly, the down-covered baby penguin lookalike rolls in on four wheels for a huddle with real-life chicks, right under the noses of adult birds which seem to pay it no heed.
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The infiltration is for a good cause: the cute and fluffy robot is a remote-controlled spy designed by scientists wishing to monitor the skittish penguins without causing them stress.
An international team tested the rover, with and without the fake chick addition, on king penguins on Possession Island in the Indian Ocean, and on Emperor penguins in Antarctica.
They reported in the journal Nature Methods on Sunday that both versions caused much less alarm, measured by penguin heart rate and b...

Endangered giant tortoises have staged a remarkable population comeback on Espanola Island in the Galapagos.
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A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE reports that giant tortoises on the island now number about 1,000 self-sustaining creatures, after nearly disappearing in the 1960s, when just 15 were counted.
"The population is secure," said James P. Gibbs, professor of vertebrate conservation biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and lead author of the paper, in a press release. "It's a rare example of how biologists and managers can collaborate to recover a species from the brink of extinction."
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